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Warren Joseph Avery is a 2014 graduate of the PsyD Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, New England

Keywords

hardiness, resiliency, PTSD, combat, commitment, challenge, control, posttraumatic stress disorder

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Research suggests that the personality factor hardiness may aid in resilience to combat PTSD. The need to understand resiliency factors like hardiness becomes more urgent as the depth of the epidemic of combat PTSD among veterans becomes more evident. Hardiness consists of three dimensions: (a) commitment, (b) control, and (c) challenge. This study was designed to explore the relationship between the dimensions of hardiness and combat PTSD in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans. Participants were contacted through college veterans offices across the nation, and measures were anonymously completed online. Veterans who participated in the study were asked to complete measures of demographics, hardiness, PTSD, and combat exposure. Correlations suggest that commitment hardiness is a better predictor of resilience to combat PTSD, than challenge or control hardiness. A significant correlation of lesser magnitude was also found for challenge hardiness and combat PTSD. The relationship between control hardiness and combat PTSD was nonsignificant. The relationship between commitment hardiness and combat PTSD is consistent across relevant studies. Further research is needed to clarify the reliability of the relationship between challenge and control hardiness, and to learn whether interventions to increase commitment hardiness result in lower levels of PTSD in veterans.

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